Big Three (Peru)

For the other groups of entities known as "Big Three" or "The Big Three", see Big Three (disambiguation).

The Big Three (Spanish: Los Tres Grandes) is the nickname of the three most successful sports clubs in Peru. The football teams of Universitario, Sporting Cristal, and Alianza Lima have a great rivalry and are usually the main contenders for the title. The most successful club is Universitario with 28 domestic titles, and combined they share a total of 73 out of 108 Peruvian Football Championships ever played and generally end up sharing the top three positions.

Alianza Lima

Sporting Cristal

Universitario

Location of the three clubs in Lima. Universitario is located further east.

Big Three

Alianza Lima Sporting Cristal Universitario
Location	Lima
Teams	Universitario Sporting Cristal Alianza Lima
Stadiums	Monumental (Universitario) Alejandro Villanueva (Alianza Lima) Alberto Gallardo (Sporting Cristal)

Universitario, Estadio Monumental

Sporting Cristal, Alberto Gallardo

Alianza Lima, Alejandro Villanueva

Several other clubs outside the big three have won the Peruvian league, with Sport Boys having the fourth most national titles behind the Big Three in Peru with 6 in total. In recent years, the chief competitors of the three are Melgar, Cienciano and Cusco.^[1][2][3]

Titles by club

Club	Total	Liga de Lima (1912–21)	Amateur era Lima & Callao (1926–50)	Professional era (1951–)
				Lima & Callao (1951–65)	Descentralizado (1966–2018)	Liga 1 (2019–)
Universitario[C]	28	—	7	3	16	2
Alianza Lima[D]	25	2	6	6	9	2
Sporting Cristal[E]	20	—	—	2	17	1

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runners-up years
Universitario	28	15	1929, 1934, 1939, 1941, 1945, 1946, 1949, 1959, 1960, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1974, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2009, 2013, 2023, 2024	1928, 1932, 1933, 1940, 1955, 1965, 1970, 1972, 1978, 1984, 1988, 1995, 2002, 2008, 2020
Alianza Lima	25	25	1918, 1919, 1927, 1928, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2017, 2021, 2022	1914, 1917, 1926, 1930, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1943, 1953, 1956, 1961, 1964, 1971, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2009, 2011, 2018, 2019, 2023
Sporting Cristal	20	15	1956, 1961, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1988, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2005, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020	1962, 1963, 1967, 1973, 1977, 1989, 1992, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2015, 2021, 2024

Title definitions

List of finals

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Venue
1987	Universitario	1–0	Alianza Lima	Estadio Nacional
1988	Sporting Cristal	2–1	Universitario	Estadio Nacional
Year	Winner	Agg.	Runner-up	1st leg	2nd leg	3rd leg
1998	Universitario	3–3 (penalty shootout 4–2)	Sporting Cristal	1–2	2–1	–
1999	Universitario	3–1	Alianza Lima	3–0	0–1	–
2003	Alianza Lima	2–1†	Sporting Cristal	Single match
2004	Alianza Lima	0–0 (penalty shootout 5–4)	Sporting Cristal	Single match
2009	Universitario	2–0	Alianza Lima	1–0	1–0	–
2018	Sporting Cristal	7–1	Alianza Lima	4–1	3–0	–
2020	Sporting Cristal	3–2	Universitario	2–1	1–1	–
2021	Alianza Lima	1–0	Sporting Cristal	1–0	0–0	–
2023	Universitario	3–1	Alianza Lima	1–1	2–0	–

Other definitions

These matches were played when teams were tied for first in the general league or in a specific tournament.

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Venue	In contention
1928	Alianza Lima	1–1	Federación Universitaria	Stadium Nacional	1928 Campeonato de Selección y Competencia
Replay	Alianza Lima	2–0	Federación Universitaria	Stadium Nacional
1935	Universitario	2–1	Alianza Lima	Stadium Nacional	1934 Torneo de Primeros Equipos
1955	Alianza Lima	2–1	Universitario	Estadio Nacional	1955 Campeonato Profesional de Lima
1961	Sporting Cristal	2–0	Alianza Lima	Estadio Nacional	1961 Campeonato Profesional de Lima
1990	Universitario	1–0	Alianza Lima	Estadio Nacional	1990 Torneo Regional II
1991	Sporting Cristal	1–1 (penalty shootout 7–6)	Universitario	Estadio Nacional	1991 Torneo Regional II
1998	Sporting Cristal	1–0	Alianza Lima	Estadio Nacional	1998 Torneo Clausura
2001	Alianza Lima	2–1	Sporting Cristal	Estadio Nacional	2001 Torneo Apertura
2002	Universitario	1–0 0–0	Alianza Lima	Estadio Monumental Estadio Mansiche	2002 Torneo Apertura
2014	Sporting Cristal	1–0	Alianza Lima	Estadio UNSA	2014 Torneo Clausura

Half-year / Short tournaments

Apertura / Fase 1 seasons

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runners-up years
Universitario	9	2	1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2008, 2016, 2020, 2024, 2025	1969, 2005
Alianza Lima	6	5	1997, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2017, 2023	1999, 2002, 2003, 2018, 2025
Sporting Cristal	4	8	2003, 2015, 2018, 2021	1997, 2001, 2006, 2008, 2016, 2019, 2023, 2024

Clausura / Fase 2 seasons

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runners-up years
Alianza Lima	7	5	1997, 1999, 2003, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022	1998, 2002, 2014, 2018, 2024
Sporting Cristal	6	4	1998, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2014, 2016	2000, 2008, 2020, 2021
Universitario	3	6	2000, 2023, 2024	1997, 1999, 2006, 2007, 2016, 2019

Regional seasons (1984–1991)

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runners-up years
Universitario	4	3	1985, 1987, 1988, 1990–II	1989–II, 1990–I, 1991–I
Sporting Cristal	3	0	1989–I, 1991–I, 1991–II	—
Alianza Lima	0	2	—	1986, 1990–II

Descentralizado seasons (1984–1988)

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runners-up years
Alianza Lima	2	0	1986, 1987	—
Universitario	1	1	1985	1988
Sporting Cristal	1	0	1988	—

Parallel tournaments

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runners-up years
Sporting Cristal	4	1	1992 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores, 1994 Apertura, 1997 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores, 2018 Torneo de Verano	1993 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores
Alianza Lima	3	0	1993 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores, 1994 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores, 1996 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores	—
Universitario	0	5	—	1969 Apertura, 1981 Regional, 1989 Torneo Plácido Galindo, 1996 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores, 1997 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores

Total Half-year / Short tournaments by club

Club	Total	Half-year tournaments
		Torneo Apertura (1997–)	Torneo Clausura (1997–)	Fase 1 (2020–2021)	Fase 2 (2020–2021)	Torneo Regional (1984–1991)	Torneo Descentralziado (1984–1988)	Torneo de Verano (2017–2018)
Sporting Cristal	15	3	6	1	0	3	1	1
Alianza Lima	15	6	6	0	1	0	2	0
Universitario	14	6	2	1	0	4	1	0

National Cups and Supercups

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runners-up years
Alianza Lima	2	1	1919 Copa de Campeones del Perú, 2014 Torneo del Inca	2015 Torneo del Inca
Universitario	1	0	1970 Copa Presidente de la República	—
Sporting Cristal	1	0	2021 Copa Bicentenario	—

Total International Participations by club

As of 30 May 2025

Club	Total	International Participations
		Copa Libertadores (1961–)	Copa Sudamericana (2003–)	Recopa Sudamericana (1970–)	Copa CONMEBOL (1992–1999)	Copa Merconorte (1998–2001)	Copa de Campeones (1948)	Copa Ganadores de Copa (1970–1971)
Sporting Cristal	49	40	4	0	1	4	—	—
Universitario	49	35	8	0	2	4	—	—
Alianza Lima	41	31	5	0	1	4	—	—

Performances by club

Performance in international cups by club

Team	Winners	Runners-up	Years won	Years lost
Universitario	0	1	—	1972
Sporting Cristal	0	1	—	1997

See also

• Big Three (Belgium)
• Big Three (Costa Rica)
• Big Three (Greece)
• Big Three (Netherlands)
• Big Three (Portugal)
• Big Three (Turkey)
• Big Twelve (Brazilian football)
• Big Five (Argentine football)